Goose’s west coast run at gorgeous outdoor venues continued last night with a show at Carnation’s Remlinger Farms, located just outside Seattle. After two shows in Montana that went lighter on big jams, the band began the west coast proper leg of tour with a show that demonstrated that improvisation is back, putting together two strong sets filled with memorable jams.
With a crowd filled with an interesting mix of families with young kids and older fans that are the typical PNW demographic, Goose took the stage as the sun was starting to set with “Hot Love & The Lazy Poet” for the seventh time this year, demonstrating this song’s excellent role in this spot. At least for much of the first set, the crowd seemed more laid back than some previous shows on this tour and the band seemed to dial in to that energy for a while early on.
“The Whales” had a little bit of extra mustard on the intro as multi-instrumentalist Peter Anspach strapped on his new guitar, some unique tones hitting the air before the band blazed through the song proper.
A beautiful sunset “AUATC” continued the set before it was time for the jams with “Earthling or Alien?.” This song goes through periods of strong improv and it seems to be in a new one right now after the massive version in Iowa last weekend.
Anspach took off into the funk groove with staccato clav work, activating his punchy envelope filter as he and guitarist Rick Mitarotonda swirled around each other, the latter using a flange effect to keep things interesting.
The strong clav funk was accentuated by drummer Cotter Ellis’ variations on the groove, throwing in tom work instead of sticking purely to the driving beat. Bassist Trevor Weekz stepped in with some high-register riffs as the band hit a strong Type I peak, beginning to poke and prod at the edges of “E or A” proper.
Mitarotonda led a beautiful major-key modulation that the rest of the band followed almost immediately, quickly forming a soaring hose motif. Emotional catharsis was the feeling of this sustained and joyous jam as Mitarotonda weaved melody after melody into the evening air and the crowd fully locked in – this was it.
A drop back into the ending of “Earthling,” complete with some nice fills from Ellis, led to the kickoff of “Borne” to continue the run of improv-heavy songs.
It was clear that the band wanted to try something different as Ellis rose from the synth-haze end of “Borne” into the groovy “2001”-esque jam, taking it at a slightly slower pace with Anspach on some textural clav work instead of the usual Vintage Vibe.
Weekz immediately suggested some dissonant shifts, acting as a great anchor and leader while guitar and keys stuck to straight vamping for a while. With a grittier feeling than normal thanks to the phased clav, the band hung out in the groove with no hurry to go anywhere, showing off patience that had been largely vacant from the last few shows.
Bass is 100% the MVP of this “Borne,” as Weekz’ continued suggestion of the off-kilter progression was eventually latched on to by Anspach and Mitarotonda, whose guitar loops continued to swirl and add texture.
With a gradual ramp-up in intensity, each of the musicians began to work harder, percussionist Jeff Arevalo coming through the mix with some busy timbale work, making his presence known and felt with some amazing accents to the rhythm-centric jam.
Anspach and Weekz were already locked in on a hypnotic progression at this time and Mitarotonda began to join them, dancing around the riffs with eerie-sounding melodies of his own as the jam took on a quality of “The Killing Moon.”
Dropping off the chaotic vibe of the peak into a drum-centric space, Ellis broke from his driving motif to cover his toms, informing a switch into a more pounding motif reminiscent of the intro to “Golden Age.” Mitarotonda got mean for this final section, eliciting stank faces with some excellent funk riffing as the band continued to work as one collective unit. “Turned Clouds” emerged from the murk thanks to a smooth segue courtesy of Mitarotonda and kept the flow going well.
While the set could have wrapped up there, Goose opted to pull “Everything Must Go,” very comfortable in the first set-closing spot this year. Returning to the moody darkness with the drop into the jam, Anspach and Weekz continued to seemingly share a brain as the two musicians crafted some darker motifs under Mitarotonda’s sparser riffing.
Ellis and Arevalo went ham (as this song demands) with cymbal hits and pounding toms, both drummers working together exceptionally well ahead of a modulation to brighter pastures by Mitarotonda.
The guitarist led the way into a new progression, the rest of the band hot on his heels with Ellis varying the dynamics of his ride cymbal work to match the build at first, but he eventually went full push as it was clear that we were heading for another cathartic and emotional peak similar to the vibe of the earlier “Earthling.”
Ellis seems to always know exactly when to pivot into double-time, and he did it at the perfect moment to bring the big peak to a boil, followed by a quick dark build by Mitarotonda to bring us home into “EMG” proper to conclude the excellent first set.
The quick setbreak saw the band return with “Drive,” which has absolutely been the most consistent jam vehicle of the tour. It was clear quickly that Anspach had plans to take his new guitar for a walk and dialed in some seriously grimy tones early on in the jam, departing from the usual brisk funk of the Type I section relatively quickly.
Two guitar Goose poured forth atop Ellis’ and Weekz’ driving groove, Anspach in particular just leaning into the grit as Mitarotonda danced around his repetitive layering. Quickly building to a powerful peak, the band was already on to the next improvisational idea by the 12th minute and began to cool off, searching for the true destination.
Mitarotonda found it in a nice major key and the band dove into a patient bliss space similar to where “Drive” went at SPAC – a bedrock of Vintage Vibe from Anspach and emotional soloing from Mitarotonda built around some repetitive riffs.
Soaring through the peak, a quick funny moment came at the end as Anspach swung his guitar around his back and knocked his Nord Stage keyboard – but luckily the note he hit was in the correct key for the jam.
“Electric Avenue” acted as the set’s “breather” tune and gave the opportunity for Anspach to explore some light and floaty tones on Moog Muse synthesizer, soloing over the quiet rhythm section that called to mind the version of the song from Amsterdam last fall.
“Red Bird” was tapped next and became the centrepiece of the entire show with a blistering 21-minute version that saw the band unleash their finest improvisation in two weeks (in my opinion).
Arevalo kicked off the jam with some particularly aggressive percussion underneath Mitarotonda’s solo as the guitarist blazed through the Type I section, coming down and settling into a propulsive space with low-end piano from Anspach at the forefront.
Mitarotonda engaged his octave-down effect for some thick riffs, playing confidently over the continued leadership of the rhythm section, a move similar to some of the finest “Red Bird” jams of 2022 and 2023. Seeming to struggle for a bit to break free of the song proper, the band hit another great Type I peak – and Ellis made the decision that would change the course of the jam when he switched into a double-time beat.
Quickly building up a strong head of steam, Mitarotonda’s playing got filthier as Goose charged ahead, cooling the intensity of the jam but keeping the pace up.
Fragmenting into what could have easily just been a build back up to a peak, the band opted for exploration with Weekz poking his head in with suggestions of new progressions and hits before Ellis tightened things up with a switch from ride cymbal to hi-hat.
Weekz’ underwater envelope-filtered bass drove the bus here as Mitarotonda relinquished his leadership role from earlier, letting Anspach’s busy piano work colour the space while the jam continued to get darker and darker.
Finding a melody that they liked, Anspach and Mitarotonda came close to the stop/start theme that the band has been loving this tour, building tension upon tension with no real resolution. Anspach began to add in synth swells at the end of each phrase as the band continued to charge forward, picking up even more speed and intensity en route to a blistering and dissonant peak.
By this point, I had reached my cackling mode of show attendance, where the band is just absolutely crushing a jam to the point where I laugh like a deranged maniac – and I was over the moon at the commitment to deep improv Goose was displaying here.
Keeping the pedal to the metal right through the finish, the band tapped “Hungersite” to close the second set for its second consecutive appearance – and I have to say that I absolutely love it in this slot. While some longer versions tend to stick largely to form for their runtime, this closer slot allowed the band to open things back up into cathartic bliss one more time, sustaining another incredible improvisational idea to its completion, building upon a unique progression that I would love to see come back some time soon.
With 11 minutes to go until curfew, Goose tapped “Dripfield” for the encore and brought the house down with their best song to send the Seattle crowd home happy.
I have a feeling that a lot of new Goose fans were made at Remlinger Farms last night as the band played one of the strongest shows of the tour so far – great setlisting, strong improv, and choice covers to satisfy any type of attendee or listener ready for an incredible night.
We continue down the coast tonight to another beautiful outdoor venue in Troutdale, OR – let’s close this weekend out on a high note! A livestream of tonight’s show is available exclusively for nugs subscribers.